Malawi govt to make stand on same-sex affairs: President inquire on gays arrest

President Peter Mutharika says he was meeting Home Affairs minister Jean Kalirani to get a briefing of the arrest of two homosexuals.

Mutharika said this on Monday during a news briefing at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe.

“I am aware of the issue, I will be meeting the minister of Home Affairs this afternoon, our position will be known later,” said the President.

He said the matter was not discussed at the just ended Commonwealth heads of state and government meeting which was in Malta.

The police arrested a homosexual couple in Lilongwe and were charged with homosexuality related charges that carries a maximum of 14 years in prison with hard labour.

Meanwhile, two gay men on Friday explained to lawyers about the ill-treatment they get from police and the public because of their sexual orientation.

The duo expressed their sentiments when Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and Centre for the Development of People (Cedep) organised a two-day sensitisation and capacity building workshop on lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI), HIV and Aids and human rights for lawyers.

Malawi Law Society (MLS) vice- president Powell Nkhutabasa, who was at the workshop, expressed disappointment that some lawyers refused to represent gays.

Associate professor Chiwoza Bandawe at College of Medicine (CoM), a constituent college of the University of Malawi, MLS executive secretary Godfrey Kangaude and Chrispine Sibande, a human rights lawyer, made presentations at the workshop.